“Except not hire a thief or ensure that he couldn’t open an account on his own,” Lauren replied, a bitter note in her voice.
Greg lifted one shoulder. “Okay, yeah, maybe that. But from the time you caught the problem to now, I don’t think there’s anything that you should have done differently.”
“You mean, that Kayla should have done differently.”
“Just doing my job.” Kayla tried to wave off the praise.
“Yes, you were. And you are so getting a promotion for doing it well.”
At that, Kayla laughed. “Boss, I’m already your vice president. I don’t think there’s anywhere to promote me.”
“I’ll figure something out,” Lauren promised. She looked back to Greg and asked, “We couldn’t stop the transfer?”
“He was the only one with permission to manage the account. We could have changed that, but he moved too fast.”
“We’ve got all his email?” Lauren asked.
Kayla nodded. “After Greg found out Bob was the only employee with access to that account, I had IT pull his emails. He took his computer, but we’ve got everything on the backups, which go through Friday night.”
“And the police haven’t been able to locate him?”
Kayla shook her head. “They think he had been planning to run for at least the last month. Two weeks ago, he purchased two one-way tickets to different places. He changed the date on both the tickets Friday night. Except, he didn’t use either ticket. His car is gone, so the cops think he drove out. They’re looking for it now.”
Lauren thought quickly. “Okay, we can’t do anything about that right now. The police will catch him and then we’ll deal with him. Greg, I want to change the setup on all our accounts so that no individual can open or close an account. Any action like that needs my signature or Kayla’s, plus the head of our legal team.
“I want a quick tag up with all the department heads in thirty minutes. Before then, I want our public relations team to draft a statement. We’re going to start getting questions from the press, if we haven’t already, so let’s be ready.”
Greg and Kayla both nodded, and Lauren looked at Greg, a sincere expression of thanks on her face. “My friend, you really came through for us here. You know if you ever need anything, we’re here for you.”
Greg stood and shook Lauren’s hand. “What are friends for but to track down embezzling thieves and save your company?”
He left the office and Lauren motioned for Kayla to stay back. After she passed a few directions to Emma, Lauren turned back into her office and closed the door.
“Okay, let’s talk about how we deal with the money problem.” Lauren paced the room instead of sitting back down.
“We can’t ask our clients to pay our invoices any faster,” Kayla said.
“No. We do that and everyone will know we’re in trouble before you can say ‘industry gossip.’”
“I know you’re not going to like this option, but we could ask your mother for the money,” Kayla said hesitantly.
Lauren grimaced. “I’d really rather not do that.”
“I don’t know that we have another option. Even if we asked senior management to forgo being paid, that’s not enough to cover everything else. We can’t cover things internally—we need some outside help and your mother is the best alternative.”
Lauren thought about it, dropping her head into her hands. “Ugh. No. Asking my mother for the money will only get us into more trouble. It might save us now, but we’ll regret it down the road.”
“What are we going to do then?” Kayla was starting to sound rattled again.
“I’m going to get the money another way. My mother isn’t the only person I can go to.”
“Why do I have a feeling I’m not going to like this new option?”
Lauren shook her head. “No, I really think it will be okay. I mean, I’m not going to enjoy the asking, but I’m almost certain I can get the money this way.”
She looked up to see Kayla watching her skeptically. “I promise, Kay, I’ll fix this. Let me make a call, okay? And then I’ll see you back with the department heads in ten?”
Kayla nodded and, looking only slightly less worried, left Lauren’s office.
Lauren picked up the phone on her desk and started dial a number, but stopped suddenly. She tapped the edge of the receiver on her chin as she thought. They’d never agreed not to meet for business reasons, only that they wouldn’t see each other personally. This was a business call, really, so she needed to follow a business protocol.